Terra American Bistro began in Hillcrest May 1998 and has since moved to the East College District of Rolando. Chef/Owner and Cookbook Author Jeff Rossman supports local food purveyors and sources all ingredients carefully, with a commitment to buy all products that are cultivated sustainably and humanely. Terra specialties include Steamed Carlsbad Black Mussels, Chipotle Marinated Skirt Steak, Pumpkin Raviolis and Lobster Macaroni ‘n Cheese. This neighborhood Bistro serves up farm to table fare and offers the perfect combination of sophistication and casual elegance. The team’s ambition at Terra is to create a relaxed and casual atmosphere to enjoy great food, local craft beer & wine.

small parties up to 16 can order off the menu and larger parties need to contact our banquet department for special menu with pricing. Private parties can buy out the restaurant or possibly host an event on Saturday afternoons or Monday evenings.

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Private party contact

Lisa or Jeff: (619) 993-1437

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Catering

Whatever the occasion, our goal is to make your event a complete success. With overflowing creativity and a gracious and dynamic staff, let Terra be your hospitality partner. We promise to exceed your expectations with an uncompromising commitment to perfection. Whether you are planning a simple luncheon or an elaborate six-course dinner, Chef/Owner Jeff Rossman will work with you from the start. He would be delighted to create a custom menu for you and your guests.

Please Note: since this ia a discounted menu, it cannot be combined with any other offer, discount, coupon or promotion. No San Diego Restaurant Gift Card. You may use a Terra gift card. No substitutions.

Please Note: since this is a discounted menu, it cannot be combined with any other offer, discount, coupon or promotion. No San Diego Restaurant Gift Card. You may use a Terra gift card. No Substitutions.

* CORKAGE POLICY * some of our patrons have wine cellars and we therefore encourage bringing a bottle of a favorite wine(not already on our list) to make the dining experience more enjoyable. We charge $15 per bottle opened, or you may bring in one bottle and buy one bottle in lieu of a corkage fee. LIMIT TWO BOTTLES PER TABLE OF FOUR. ....Wednesday is corkage free night.....

Dessert

roasted strawberry tart

house made ricotta-thyme crema, white balsamic syrup

Children's Options

$15.95 children under 12 yrs

scrambled eggs + sausage or bacon

pancakes + sausage or bacon

BLT with fries

Available 4:30-5:30pm tuesday thru sunday. Dine In Only. Not valid with any other offer, discount or special promotion. *ORDER ANY ENTREE AT REGULAR PRICE AND RECIEVE A FIRST COURSE SELECTION AND A DESSERT*

First Course Selections

choice of soup of the day or side green salad with herb shallot vinaigrette

Entree Selections

choice of any entree from our regular menu

dessert selections

choice of house made ice cream or seasonal sorbet

solid desserts

$7.25

chai tea creme brulee

cinnamon shortbread

$7.25

chocolate cigar- our signature

chocolate ganache wrapped in phyllo dough served warm on a cloud of whipped cream

We were a group of 5 ladies celebrating our birthdays. We all enjoyed our food immensely. Delicious flavors and good portions. As to the noise level I truly can't comment, we didn't stop chatting long enough to notice.

A friend and I dined there a couple of nights ago, arriving at about 5:45. We were seated immediately and the timing was perfect. Within 15-20 minutes. The restaurant started getting very busy and the noise level increased. We ordered the fried brussel sprouts appetizer and the grilled Scottish salmon entree, which we shared. The food was mouth-watering delicious and service was excellent. Neither of us could have finished an entree by ourselves, so sharing was perfect. Since I'm not a fan of noisy restaurants, going early was perfect timing.

We were there for Sunday brunch, and both chose the quesadilla. We liked the crispy-but-not-greasy flour tortilla. The pulled pork was, um, porky, but did not appear to have been cooked with any seasoning. We use very little salt, but this seemed to have none. Thank goodness for the mild but flavorful roasted salsa. I would have liked to have had about twice as much of that. Our side of bacon had excellent flavor - we had to order it, after smelling it as we got out of our car! Cooked just right, I still wish they had blotted some of the grease off the surface.Service was good, especially the refilling if drinks. But this place is insanely loud. They’ve tried to do something about this by mounting panels covered with burlap from coffee bean sacks on the ceiling, but they need more.

All the entrees were cooked to perfection and tasted great..salmon , sea bass, and steak..All three cooked to perfection...I totally enjoyed the pumpkin raviolis, a seasonal favorite. While there was laughter and discussions around the room we totally enjoyed our meal..The waitstaff are friendly, efficient and professional. You have to try the brownie cooked in a tiny iron skillet. The brownie is topped with a caramel sauce to die for and ice cream.

This is a rotational spot for us and when we want to stay close to home but want top food and service we go to Terra. Jeff's dishes are always good and there is always something new. My wife had a cup of Cream of Broccoli soup for an apetizer and I had the Potato,Brie and Red Onion Quesadilla. Both were very good. My wife had the Grilled Hanger steak that came with Bacon Potato Hash and brown butter parmesan Cauliflower. The steak was very well seasoned and tender and she absolutely loved the Bacon Potato hash. I had the Cioppino (it is something I will order anytime I see it on a menu) and Jeffs version of this Italian classic is really good. I have never had it anywhere where the flavors were not different. I will order this again anytime I am at Terra if it is on the menu. My wife had coffee and I had a glass of Elijah Craig Bourbon on the rocks. Now about whiskey. We sat at the bar as we usually do so in conversation about Bourbon our Bartender Sara who is awesome showed me a bottle of Bourbon called Blantons. Her curiosity got her and she wanted to taste it and gave me a taste. It is sooo smooth and when I get it it will be straight no ice. We need the night with a shared Banana Bread Pudding, Hey its Bread Pudding so yeah it was good but unlike ,most the sweetness was toned down a little which made it very enjoyable.

Dining at Terra's is always a pleasure; really great tasting food, friendly waitstaff and service. The salmon was cooked to perfection and I can't say enough great things about the seasonal pumpkin raviolis.

Always a treat to see what's offered here, with interesting specials and enough creative combinations on the menu to make it lively. The friendly servers add yet another layer of comfort to this unassuming, consistently worth-it eatery.

This used to be a favorite of ours.I ordered the brie and potato quesadilla appetizer, it was awful. Full of raw red onion. My salad was wilted.My salmon was fine. But I expect better than "fine" from this place.We are removing from our go to list-even if it is only a few blocks from home.

Terra continues to be our favorite go-to restaurant. We are immediately welcomed and treated as friends. We have been dining at Terra on a regular basis for several years and we are never disappointed with the food - it is consistently high quality and thoughtfully prepared. We enjoy that the menu is seasonal and thus has new options to try.The staff is exceptional, always welcoming and professional!

Great neighborhood restaurant with excellent farm-to-table options and creative dishes. Lots of options for vegetarians, vegans, and gluten-free. Lots of small plates, salads, bowls. Simple but welcoming atmosphere with excellent service. The desserts are not to be missed, especially the banana bread pudding and brownie skillet.

Met A couple of friends there they were very quick to seat us and take care of us. We were able to order drinks right away while we waited for friends to get there. Dinner Was delicious and the service was great

The hostess on duty was not very cordial but I have had another encounter with the same hostess with the same negative response. Our waiter was very charming professional and attentive. My husband had the pasta with Bolognese which was very tasty but greasy . I had the fish of the day, yellowtail and I can't say I loved it. It was accompanied by A generous portion of sautéed kale end it was almost unedible and very difficult to cut! I had to send it back. And he brought me a steak knife and told me that he had other complaints about it ! Normally the plates are very well composed. And delicious. It was just not up to it's usual goodness. It was disappointing but we will return and hope it was just one of those off nights.

The chef is careful to source local, organic as much as possible and is very conscientious about the health benefits of what he prepares. He has a creative kitchen. I try to go when it's not too noisy as the acoustics aren't helped by the fact that there are hard surface floors, ceiling and tables without cloths.

We had a wonderful evening at Terra American Bistro. Cocktails were innovative and refreshing. Our party of 5 enjoyed the Restaurant Week menu. We all tried different dishes which were all cooked to perfection and delicious. Dessert was outstanding including the delectable bread pudding. Everything does taste better with butter! The bartender, waitress and servers were excellent and we had great service.

We went here for restaurant week and absolutely loved it. We didn't have a single thing that wasn't cooked perfectly. We've already made plans to come back for my Fiance's birthday when my family is in town in March. The regular menu was huge and looked just as good as the restaurant week menu. We had fun cocktails that were unique or had a twist to them. Very cute vibe inside. I would definitely recommend!

Saw terra American bistro advertised for restaurant week and was excited to try it after reading their menu. We made reservations at noon and found our way there. It's kind of in a bad area, but the menu looked like it would be worth it. We were seated right away. After receiving the menus found out that they were not honoring restaurant week yet (even though the logo was stamped all over the menu), never the less, they were only serving lunch tues-fri on the special. We decided to stay and ordered a salad and iced tea. We waited and waited and waited.... could have died of thirst, the waitress still wasn't going to refill our tea. After 45 minutes, called the waitress over and she hadn't realized we didn't get our salads yet. About 5 minutes later, she returned to tell us the tickets were lost and could we remind her what we ordered so she could put it in again... we asked for the check. Completely ridiculous, not even an apology. This place doesn't even deserve the one star I gave it, but the scale won't go lower. I want my hour back!

I had a reservation for my birthday with a friend! I put in the notes that it was my birthday, but they did not recognize it. The server seemed way too overwhelmed and gave very poor service. The table next to me waited 45 minutes for their food and then the server went to check on it, it still hadn’t been made. The table was so upset they left their drinks on the table and left.I didn’t mind waiting because the $6.50 bottomless mimosas were a steal and held us over until our food arrived. The food was great and the mimosas were never empty. Overall I would return but only because of the food (and mimosas).

I had the bass special off the Farm to Table Menu. It was amazing! My boyfriend had the Rigatoni Bolognese and the banana bread pudding for dessert which he really enjoyed. Unfortunately I could not try his dishes because they were not gluten free (but there are plenty of gluten free options). I would definitely recommend Terra. The food, service, and ambiance was great!

Set a reservation for a birthday lunch for five for two birthday boys. Our waitress seemed to have a handle on things with taking our order, however 3 out of our party of 5 had things wrong or missing. It took 20 minutes to fully rectify a missing fried egg on a burger along with a side of cotija and Parmesan for a salad and mussels. The birthday boys also had liquidous whipped cream on their desserts which sat for 5 minutes in front of us before being tableaide.

I had hoped Terra would have knocked it out of the park after that... then our bill came. We were charged $33ish for a $16 bowl. Our waitress said she and management thought the computer had it wrong from restaurant week and gave us a comp instead of an accurate bill. That took another 10 minutes of waiting to figure out on their end.

We enjoy the fresh ingredients and unique menu items. It can get quite loud sometimes so be prepared. My steak was medium, I ordered medium rare. My son enjoyed the lemon grass soda flavor but said it had too much 'string' in it. On another occasion I had the lobster mac and cheese. It was good because I love lobster but the cheese sauce was not above a 3.5 star.Every time they serve squash, they cook/serve it unpeeled...I don't like it.

I’ve been here a number of times and truly was never very impressed. This time was different! It was truly the best burger that I’ve had in probably 28 years since I used to eat my favorite in New York’s East Village. Charred on the outside and fullof flavor. I’m goin frack and I wish I could eat it right now!

I had eaten at Terra many times in Hillcrest so I knew that this was the perfect place for Christmas since we no longer live in San Diego. I love the ingenuity of their menu ideas and the food is always just wonderful. Thank you for a very Merry Christmas dinner.